Healey will take over on Thursday from Hans van der Giessen, another fixture on campus, who will continue as a senior member of the president’s office.

University of Bridgeport President Neil Salonen said a rigorous national search by Isaacson, Miller, a Boston-based firm, for the position led to five finalists.

“After weighing their talents and experience, and receiving feedback from the UB community, the strongest choice was very clear,” Salonen said.

Healey said he is looking forward to working with the whole university community to advance UB’s academic mission. He joined the university in 1998 as an assistant professor of world religions. In 2010, Healey was named dean of Arts & Sciences, and in 2013, he was appointed associate provost, where his more recent duties included chairing UB’s New England Association of Schools and Colleges self-study during the 2014-15 academic year.

“Our institution is well positioned to pursue the challenges that we have identified and committed to in our recent NEASC self-study,” Salonen said. “I have great confidence that he can provide the academic leadership to achieve those goals.”

Healey earned a Ph.D. in theological ethics from Boston College in 1996. He holds a master’s of arts in theological ethics from Andover Newton Theological School and a bachelor of arts in Religion from Eastern Nazarene College. His doctoral work focused on the interaction of religion and society, studied from the perspective of the social sciences, philosophy, and ethics.